Planning for continued deployment of wave energy exploitation systems is largely dependent on knowledge of the resource base. However, no definitive consensus-based methodology for regional wave resource determination exists, and previous regional resource assessments have utilized disparate methodologies which can lead to inaccurate data.

A more precise approach developed by researchers from U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington considers wave directionality and the generation of waves by local winds. This methodology is designed to provide a consistent means for accounting for wave energy at regional as well as project scales.

When applied to data for the U.S., the new modeling scheme reveals the theoretical U.S. wave energy resource to be 3,300 TWh/year, which is 25% higher than wave resource assessments conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute. Region totals of 2,000 TWh/year in Alaska, 510 TWh/year along the U.S. west coast and 380 TWh/year in Hawaii were also generated by the analysis. The inner-shelf resource was determined to be 1,900 TWh/year.

The researchers emphasize the need for more accurate data sets to further refine the resource assessment method described in Renewable Energy. If implemented as an industry standard, this approach could yield more consistent data to bolster confidence in the industry and expand the use of wave energy systems.